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It was 2004 and Farah Khan was all set to make her directorial debut with Main Hoon Na. The cast was locked — Shah Rukh Khan, Zayed Khan, Sushmita Sen, and newcomer Ayesha Takia. The locations in Darjeeling were booked, costumes were finalised, and the team was ready to roll. But just two weeks before the shoot, Farah got a shock that threw her into panic mode, film’s second lead Ayesha Takia backed out.
In a recent episode of her YouTube vlog, the filmmaker-choreographer revisited the chaotic days before her debut film went on floors and revealed how Amrita Rao eventually came on board. Farah, accompanied by her longtime cook Dilip, visited Amrita Rao’s home for a nostalgic chat.
As they settled down, Farah asked Dilip, “Have you seen Amrita in Main Hoon Na?” He nodded. Farah quipped, “What role did she play?” Dilip answered confidently, “The girl who was running behind Lucky.”
Farah burst out laughing. “Did you hear that? Your role was to be behind Lucky!” she joked, before correcting him. “That was Rakhi Sawant! You get out of here,” she teased.
The conversation then turned serious as Farah recalled the chaos that led to Amrita’s casting. “My shoot schedule was fixed, places in Darjeeling were booked — but I didn’t have a heroine,” Farah said. “We had first cast Ayesha Takia as Sanjana, but she went to shoot for some Imtiaz Ali film. She told me she would be gone for four days, but she didn’t return for two months. She was shooting Socha Na Tha.”
Panicked, Farah started calling Ayesha. “I told her, ‘You haven’t done costume trials or rehearsals — how will we shoot?’ She said, ‘Sorry ma’am, I can’t come. Imtiaz sir hasn’t finished the shoot.’ I was devastated. It was my first film, and my heroine had disappeared.”
That’s when her producer and Shah Rukh Khan’s wife Gauri Khan stepped in to save the day. “Gauri told me, ‘Why don’t you check with this girl? She’s done a Bru ad.’ That girl was Amrita Rao,” Farah recalled. “But honestly, she didn’t look like my character at all. She came to meet me wearing a kurta and jeans, while Sanju was supposed to be a goth, rebellious girl. I couldn’t see it.”
Still, on Gauri’s insistence, Farah decided to audition her. “I asked Amrita to do the emotional scene where she breaks down and confesses everything to SRK. The moment I saw her through the lens, I was stunned. She looked completely different — magical. It reminded me of Sridevi. Even when Sridevi’s rehearsals seemed okayish, she would light up once the camera rolled.”
RJ Anmol, who joined the conversation, chimed in: “I have always heard this story from Amrita’s side, but hearing it from you makes it even more amazing.”
Farah continued to praise her actress. “Luckily, she could dance! Chale Jaise Hawaien was a one-shot song, and she nailed it. Other dancers were fainting due to the cold and oxygen drop, but she kept going.”
However, Farah shared one funny behind-the-scenes confession — Amrita had lied about knowing how to ride a bicycle. “We were about to shoot the scene where SRK and Zayed are on cycles, and just five minutes before the shot, Amrita told me, ‘I don’t know how to cycle.’ I went hyper — it was my first film! Then Shah Rukh, being Shah Rukh, stepped in and said, ‘Don’t worry, put her on my cycle.’ If you watch that scene closely, you’ll see she looks terrified,” Farah laughed.
Amrita, meanwhile, disagreed about Farah being “hyper.” “You were actually very chilled out on set. Such a sweetheart,” she said. “I remember shooting a scene where I had to look up at the roof and sigh in relief while wiping away a tear. You came running and said, ‘I’m so glad I got you on board.’”
Farah replied with a smile, “I had my reasons. None of her costumes had reached the set — the truck never arrived! We had to borrow clothes from the dancers, cut them up, and style her like a hobo,” she laughed.
Despite all the chaos, Main Hoon Na went on to become a blockbuster, and Amrita Rao’s portrayal of Sanjana remains one of her most memorable performances. Farah fondly concluded, “Amrita was already doing six other films then and wasn’t even giving me dates!”
Amrita, laughing, replied, “No, no — I was just sandwiched between three films!”
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